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2011 Transitional Government
The 2011 Transitional Parliament represented the first democratically elected government in Oceana for almost 250 years. The 30th of September election was famous for the suprise victory of the Old Republican Party despite all polls. However the government formed by Prime Minister Lynam was later to be regarded as a failure, as government inaction lead to mass discontent across the country. Eventually, despite some success, President Foster was forced to dissolve parliament on the 9th of December 2011, after only 70 days. Party Formation and the 2011 Campaign With the storming of Tiervan's Palace on December 24, 2010, the Revolution came to an end. As the main leaders of the Revolution, Jani Helle and Andrew Foster now faced the harder challenge of rebuilding the country in the wake of Tiervan's disasterous reign. The Revolution had been fought by two very different groups. The Old Republicans, who had originally tried to reform Tiervan's government from within and the New Republicans who had broken away from the former group and had lead the way in the revolution. Each was now moving to provide their own candidates for the election in September. The Old Republican Party Link to Main Article The Old Republicans had never truly been a united faction and in the early days of 2011, it seemed that the more organised New Republicans would be the ones to take up government. It was Euan Loarridge who made the first inroads towards a compromise among the Old Republicans. The New republicans had already organised a 'New Republican Party' under the auspices of Jani Helle and Andrew Foster and Loarridge was keen to provide an opposition party. The Old Republicans were split along three lines in the run up to the September election. The Panopean Paliwoda, the Marpesian Westerman and the Oceanan Livingstone were each clashing for the position as head of a propsed Old Republican Party. After heavy negotiation, a compromise candidate was found in the Oceanan Lynam. Though many in the party saw Lynam at best as a wooden character and at worst a liability, Loarridge managed to rope Livingstone into supporting Lynam's bid for leadership. With two of the Old Republicans heaviest hitters backing him, Lynam easily won his nomination. Lynam's manifesto was one based heavily on Livingstone's financial principles (which may have been the reason for Livingstones support for Lynam's campaign) particularly investment in the military and the selling off of government owned Industries. The New Republican Party Link to Main Article While the story of the Old Republicans was one of unification, the New Republicans was one of disorder. Origninally seen as the much stronger party, it was hit hard by the decision of its two strongest members, Jani Helle and Andrew Foster to pursue other positions. Foster announced his intention to run for the office of President. While Helle intended to take position as editer and chief of the Oceana Beacon, which he had run with great success during the undergound and in the revolution. As such, the party lost it's two main leaders and for a long time was left with little or no leadership. While the Old Republicans united behind Lynam, the New Republicans underwent a division, with several leaders proclaming that they were best to take over. At length, Helle and Foster were forced to intervene and backed the Oceanan Grimes, who had been one of their close supporters, for the position as party leader. While a man of strong ideology, many among the party were in doubt about Grimes' ability to pursue a strong campaign, particularly so late in the running. Grimes championed a strong socialist policy and argued for the retention of many state owned industries. The September 30th Election Late August and early September polls all heavily favoured the New Republican Party, Most of those running for election believed that the New Republican Party would form goverment and the Old Republicans indeed prepared an Opposition platfrom, rather than a government manifesto. It was as such, with massive suprise that the Old Republicans won with a majority of needed. Lynam was duly made Prime Minister and the victorious President Foster made his famous 'Opening Speech.' Election Analysis The September election was at the time seen as a major suprise, in fact, so great that there were allegations that the election had been rigged. Later interpretations however have come to see the result as inevitable. In the opinion of many, the New Republican's defeat had two primary causes. First was the relative disunity in the party, the loss of Helle and Foster's leadership was a serious blow and one that the New Republicans did not recover from till late in the campaign. Meanwhile, the Old Republicans expressed a much more unified platform for much longer during the campaign. The second cause was in the policies of the parties themselves. While Foster and Helle commanded huge respect from the populous, Grimes was relatively unknown. Furthermore his policies, which favoured socialist ideals of nationalisation of industries was, in the eyes of many, too similar to the state ownership of the reign of King Tiervan. Lynam's platform however, demonstrated a departure from the old ideologies and this gave his campaign much greater support from a populous looking for change. By constituencies The New Republicans made significant gains in the major cities, such as Emporium, Glaschu and Clutha. Their second wave of strength came primarily from Panopea, whose population had been very anti-monarchy and had always been a stronghold of the New Republican Resistance. Southern Panopea however was the home of Paliwoda, often seen as very right wing and unstable candidate, his antics were strongly supported by his constituents which explains the New Republicans failure to secure the entire Island. Cynopea had in fact been the area of some of the strongest support of the monarchy with many prominent Cynopeans serving in Tiervan's government. However towards the end of his reign Tiervan increasingly isolated his Cynopean supporters and it is not suprising that they turned to the Old Republican Party rather than the more radical New Republicans. Marpesia, galvanised by Representative Westerman appeared as another Old Republican Stronghold. However the true strength of the party came from small coastal towns drawn by Livingstones' support of the Navy and the large rural areas drawn by Lynams conservative policies. The only constituency to not vote for either of the two parties was in Oceana Glaschu, where Alex Solan stood as an independant,with a manifesto based on security. The 2011 Transitional Cabinet The Cabinet, formed by Prime Minister Lynam was telling of his need to satisfy his political opponents within his party. Livingstone, Westerman and Paliwoda were given free reign to choose their positions, however Lynam was able to retain a modicum of control by placing his supporters Ms Blake and Ms Reintamm in the postions of Deputy PM and Foriegn Affairs. Noticeably, ORP heavy hitter and founder Euan Loarridge took no active position in government. Instead he took on the position of party Secretary and served as Deputy Speaker in Parliament. Another key player of the transitional government not mentioned was Party Representative Johnston, who was instrumental in having several bills passed through the Speakers Council and drawing up the committees. The Actions of the Parliament